London Polygon

A book about London airspace

2006

Photos

When an aircraft traverses any airspace, anywhere in the world, it never does so in a straight line. An aircraft navigates from one waypoint to another.

This project is a document of the waypoints within the Greater London Airspace, defined as an area starting the furthest North and moving clockwise: Stansted to London City, Gatwick to Heathrow and finally ending at Luton.

Each waypoint has no corresponding building, structure or even transmitter on the ground. It only exists as a five character name associated with longitude and latitude coordinates. It is a phantom.

Over a two-month period fifty-four waypoints were visited situated within London Polygon by biking through the streets of London using a GPS unit for direction taped to a bicycle.

The book contains photographs from each of these waypoints, positioned on the page as they relate to their associated airport, and starting the furthest North.

London Polygon, 30×30cm, hardcover, 54 plates.

Index page with the 54 waypoints and their location within the Polygon, the area shaped between the five London airports.

Each photograph is rotated according to the orientation it has to the airport it relates to.